DIANA GOLOB

Ten crystal awards — three of which are from NAIOP Northern Ohio, the commercial realty trade group — adorn the transom behind Diana Golob's desk at Ostendorf-Morris, where she is a vice president of corporate services and was the firm's top producer last year.

One NAIOP award, called the “Traveling Gun Award” for work outside the area, is from this year for work as part of a team that sold 55 acres in Thailand for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Others are for work on Goodyear's corporate headquarters in Akron for the woman who has done real estate deals in many foreign lands.

However, as much of an achievement is being one of the youngest agents to become an O-M vice president.

“In an industry that is male- dominated, she has risen through the ranks and currently serves as an officer of our firm, which is a fantastic example of the emerging talent in our city that thrives when given the opportunity,” her supervisor, O-M partner David O'Neill, said.

With a desire to travel that took her to Florence, Italy, for a year of study through Kent State University, Ms. Golob, 31, very nearly did not land in Cleveland at all.

The Euclid native and graduate of Bowling Green State University, with a bachelor of arts in environmental policy, considered three top-ranked schools for her post-graduate work; she chose Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs over colleges in Portland, Ore., and Madison, Wis. She did so partly because of its reputation and also because of the effort Dr. Wendy Kellogg, an associate dean, put into selling her on CSU.

“I was out of here before that,” Ms. Golob said, because she wanted to travel widely and already was changing direction from a legal career. Urban affairs and later commercial brokerage, she decided, aligned closer to her interests.

After earning a master's in urban planning, Ms. Golob worked for the city of Cleveland's community development department before joining O-M.

She is all about efficiency, living on the Gold Coast in Lakewood because of its short commute. She is a board member and a programming committee member of the Commercial Real Estate Women of Cleveland trade group. She also runs and lifts weights.